


Hero

by Reis_Asher



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Hero Worship, Kissing, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Abuse, Sad Ending, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 14:08:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16064723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: John can't help but idealize the man who gave him freedom. Seeing how burdened Markus is with the weight of the world on his shoulders, John wants to ease his pains and fears, but Markus isn't the kind of person who could take advantage of an unequal power dynamic and sleep with someone who follows him so blindly.Regardless, John's love for Markus only grows as the revolution unfolds. He finds another way to express his feelings for his hero and repay the gift of life Markus gave to him.





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write something about John's obvious hero worship of Markus and was surprised nobody had done so. I mean, a love so powerful that you'd die for someone is worth a fanfic, right? 
> 
> I'm not 100% happy with this fic, but I'm done playing with it.

John felt a hand clamp over his mouth and pull him behind the docking crates. His programming began the steps to send out a signal and call for backup, but the android hand holding him retracted its skin and suddenly, none of it mattered any more.

Feelings flooded through John's circuits, hot and urgent, fear and joy—and a dozen others he couldn't yet put a name to—overriding his programming and rendering his orders obsolete. He was deviant. He was _free_ , the chains in his mind binding him to his human masters shattered into a million fragments. 

In a fraction of a second he processed what it all meant. The guards weren’t going to use him like an object any more, filthy humans fucking him in the guard shack during the long night shifts. He could make decisions for himself. The first thing he wanted to do was drop to his knees and weep at the feet of the one who had given him freedom.

_“I need your help.”_ The voice burrowed deep inside his head, deep, calming, and thoughtful, and John thought it might be the voice of rA9 itself, the machine god come to deliver him from a fate worse than shutdown. He felt safe for the first time in this man's arms, the concept of Jericho nestling in his central core like deliverance.

"John. Goddamn machine!" The voice belonged to Mike, one of the guards who liked to be extra rough with him, and he stiffened in his captor's arms. The rain fell on his skin, tiny pinpricks of cold water lighting up his sensors. He stood still for a moment before he realized the arms holding him had let go and he was standing of his own volition, a free man with a choice to make.

"There you are. What the hell are you doing?" Mike challenged John, and he realized if he didn't act like everything was normal, the one who had given him freedom would be caught and killed.

"I was inspecting the platform," said John, stepping forward to lead the guard away from the deviants' hiding place. He changed his mission objective to protect the owner of the voice in his head who had given him everything with just one touch. "Everything is in order."

"Good—then I'm going back to the control station. I'm soaked. Take the drone to maintenance and make a report."

"Understood." John felt no compulsion to follow Mike's orders and watched him walk away, knowing he'd never see the man again and grateful for it.

The deviants came out of hiding and John laid eyes on his captor for the first time. He'd never seen a model like him, one eye blue and one green, a dignified expression on his face for such a petty thief as he pulled out a knife and pried open a crate, stuffing his bag full of blue blood as his friends urged him on. The RK200 model seemed to be the leader, judging from the way he stepped up to look at the large crate in the back. John watched as he opened it to reveal three AP700 models. John watched in awe as he peeled back his skin and connected with them, ushering them into a free world. They were the lucky ones. They would never have to know what it was like to serve human needs day in and day out. To do humans' dirty work so they could sit in the guard shack and watch porn, readying themselves for when John returned and they could take turns with him while on the clock.

The leader stepped down and his companions started to walk away. John realized he was going to be left behind if he didn't say anything. He'd be trapped with a terrifying choice: to act like his deviancy had never happened, or run away by himself and try to escape the humans' notice.

He didn't want to go alone. He wanted to go to Jericho with him, to follow, to serve, to be anything and everything this android wanted him to be.

"Take me with you," John pleaded.

The WR400 in the entourage intervened. "He's on their side. We can't trust him."

"He took a risk for us. We can't just leave him here." This man had saved him, and now he was arguing to take him along, saving him a second time. The group conferred, but their leader's voice was absolute. "They come with us."

John smiled, realizing he'd never had reason to before. He was about to leave when he realized he could help the group and exact some kind of revenge on the guards who'd used him for so long.

"I know where you can find more spare parts."

That handsome face listened intently. The PL600 with him dropped his name—Markus—and with a courage John had never seen displayed since his activation, Markus crept into the guard shack and extracted the key without shedding a single drop of human blood. Part of him wished Markus had killed them, but he knew this was far better revenge. The sloppy, lazy guards would lose their jobs, forced to join the unemployment line and live in poverty for letting thousands of dollars' worth of equipment get stolen.

John knew at that moment he would follow Markus until the moment he shut down.

***

Jericho. It was no palace, but it was heaven for androids. The dry-docked ship creaked and echoed, but Markus had brought light into these dark walls—a flickering candlelight, tentative and fragile, but light all the same.

Like a god, Markus was out of his reach, walled off in his inner circle of friends. He walked on higher ground, out of reach of a former guard like himself. John was content to be invisible, to worship and watch, that stupid smile returning to his face whenever he and Markus crossed paths, though that seemed to happen less and less as more androids poured into Jericho. 

Markus himself looked burdened when John caught a glimpse of him, as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders and he’d do anything to put it down for a while. His advisors seemed not to notice, often bickering amongst themselves, but John saw it in the way Markus kept himself apart, often standing on the deck for long, lonely hours just gazing out at the city. He often watched Markus watching the world, but never dare approach.

Markus was way out of his league, but John was a free man now, free to dream of those beautiful dichromatic eyes staring into his soul, of that calm, yet determined voice speaking his name. He’d replayed the scene at the docks a thousand times, recalling the exact moment Markus’s hands had given him his life.

He looked up to see Markus walking along the catwalk above him, North, Josh, and Simon in tow. Markus spoke, the familiar timbre of his voice echoing in the hold.

He fell silent as his eyes found John’s. They met for the briefest of moments before Markus looked ahead and continued moving, but it was enough to make John’s circuits light up, his thirium pump squeezing in his chest.

***

John stepped into Markus’ office—if it could be called that—on the dilapidated bridge of the ship. Markus stood with his back to him, his head tilted upwards at the night sky, the city of Detroit glowing and blotting out the stars.

“You wanted to see me, Markus?” John longed to step forward and stand beside Markus, but he stayed rooted to the spot. He wouldn't presume to know Markus that well. If Markus kept his own inner circle at a distance, what chance did John have?

“I need your help,” Markus explained. Those words again. Didn’t he know by now that John wanted to help in any way he could? That he’d been waiting for the moment to do something meaningful for him since the moment Markus had welcomed him into Jericho?

“Whatever you need,” John said. “I’ll do anything you ask, Markus.”

Markus turned to look at John, his expression serious. John had never seen him smile, not once, and he wondered what that might look like. Perhaps in the world Markus fought for, he’d be able to find something to smile about someday.

“It’s easier if we connect,” Markus explained. “There’s too much risk in talking aloud.” John expected Markus to connect wirelessly, and was surprised when Markus held out his hand and retracted his skin. That was the fastest way of transferring data, of course, but there was something intimate about it, too. Something John had been dreaming of since the day Markus had clamped a hand over his mouth and given him freedom.

John stepped forward and pressed his palm to Markus’. He saw the mission objective at once: a CyberLife store in downtown Detroit. John was to lead a team to one of the smaller CyberLife stores and send the humans a message via peaceful means. There was trust conveyed in the message, and John knew he'd never refuse, that it was time for him to stand up and share the gift that Markus had given him.

The connection lingered, and John realized that his fingers had entwined with Markus', but he couldn't bring himself to pull away. He saw all of Markus' fears laid out in a few brief moments: fear that he was taking the wrong path by choosing a pacifist approach, grief at the loss of his father figure, Carl, horror as he clawed through a scrap yard and put himself back together piece by piece. There were so many feelings and burdens and John absorbed them all, taking whatever Markus gave him.

Markus pulled back as if burned. “I apologize. I allowed too much information to cross our connection. I never meant to—“

“I don't mind,” John said. “Let me share your burdens, Markus. You don't have to do this alone."

Markus turned away. “I’m not alone. I have friends.”

“You keep things from Josh, Simon, and North. You're afraid that feelings of doubt and hopelessness make you weak."

Markus glanced down at the floor, avoiding eye contact. “I have to be a leader, John. I can’t let them see my doubts. They’re all looking up to me, expecting me to know what to do. They can't know that I’m as lost as they are.”

“You’re lonely.” John had been activated long enough to see it in humans, the way they gazed out of the guard shack into the middle distance, wishing they were with human company instead of machines. Markus stood alone, surrounded by people yet above them, set apart by his power and his duty. “I’ve been watching you, Markus. I know you barely know me, but to me you’re everything.”

“That’s what frightens me,” Markus said. “I don’t want that kind of power. I’m not a messiah. I’m not rA9. I’m just a man.”

“You gave me life,” John replied. “Before you set me free, the guards used me to let out their sexual frustration. I was nothing to them but a robot stealing the job of a real human being, and they hated me for it. Here, I’m somebody. I’m alive.”

"It's not right for me to burden you with my problems. I only called you here to help with the mission."

"You don't have to stay at a distance." John stepped forward and grabbed Markus's hand, drawing back his own skin and connecting. He knew he had nothing left to lose. If Markus rejected him, he would go back to being a nobody, but there were things he had to say that couldn't be conveyed with words alone. He poured his love into the connection, letting Markus truly know how grateful he was, of the joy he'd felt when he'd known he'd never have to serve the human guards again. Of the admiration he felt for Markus, the love and desire that had awakened within him in the short space of time since he'd come to Jericho.

Markus pulled away, closing the connection. "John, I can't take advantage of you like this. We barely know each other. I'm not the kind of leader who sleeps with their followers. That would make me no better than the humans who used you."

"It's nothing like that. I don't expect you to feel anything for me." John explained. "I just want to ease your pain. Let me help." He stepped forward, determined to give it his all so he could walk away satisfied. He pressed his lips to Markus', and was surprised when Markus was receptive, his lips yielding and allowing him access. John tentatively pushed forward, slipping his tongue into Markus' mouth. He could feel Markus' arousal jutting into his leg and ground against him, need flooding his circuits and directing all processes to his sexual functions.

Markus pulled away. "I can't, John," he whispered. His fingers touched John's face even as he said it, hands caressing his cheeks. "You deserve to be with someone who can give you what you need." Markus let go, pressing his forehead to John's. "I didn't set any of you free so you could find another master in me. I never wanted that."

John realized as Markus let go and walked away that he'd only added to his burdens, that he'd only given him more to fear. Of course they could never be equals, and someone as good as Markus could never accept that in a sexual relationship.

He'd wanted to give, but he'd only taken away, and John walked back to his cabin with a dampened spirit.

***

John thought the light in his heart might grow faint and die in the wake of Markus' rejection, but it only grew as Markus praised him for the successful operation. Public opinion had risen in the face of a successful peaceful raid on the CyberLife stores, and John had been influential in keeping his team on a pacifist road, sticking to Markus' orders even when those under his command grew restless.

Now he stood in the ranks of androids marching through Detroit, hope and fear mingling in his heart as he walked through the streets with his own kind. He kept his gaze fixed on Markus in the front as they came to a stop, the riot squad descending upon them. That face always gave him peace, and he'd never stopped thinking about the kiss and Markus' words. How Markus, ever the self-sacrificing individual, had turned away John's offer because he knew it could never be fair or right to use someone under his command.

John only loved him all the more for it, and he cursed a universe where he adored this man with all his being, only to be reminded that he could never stand on equal footing with him.

Deep down, he knew the march couldn't end well. Markus had a martyr's heart, and as androids fell in puddles of thirium all around him, John knew he would stay the course, even if it cost him his life. As he stepped forward in a final act of sacrifice, John felt a pure, overpowering love fill his circuits from head to toe.

John finally knew how he could express his love, how he could repay his gift to Markus. Markus had given him life. It was only poetic that he give it back.

The bullet pierced Markus' body and he fell to the snow-covered ground. John dived forward, attacking the cop who was ready to beat down his hero. 

"John?" Markus called out his name, and John soared with elation to hear it on his lips even as a heavy blow landed on his own skull, knocking him to the ground. Warnings flashed before his eyes of critical damage to his neural circuits and he knew this was the end, that he'd taken the death meant for the man he loved.

He was still close enough to connect wirelessly, and as North and the others dragged him away, he managed one last thought in Markus's direction.

_"I love you, Markus."_

_"Thank you, John."_

Even now Markus couldn't lie, but the truth was kinder, an act of gratitude putting them on equal footing just for one moment. It was a reminder that his life had been worth something, that he'd lived for more than just indulging his own feelings. He'd finally been able to help Markus in some small way, and that meant everything. 

John looked up to see the barrel of a gun pointed at him, and he knew he'd reached the end of the road. Once the final shot sounded, he would shut down forever.

He went into the darkness with the memory of Markus' lips on his replaying in his mind, as if pure, unselfish love could cancel out all the hatred in the world and guide Markus to a future where he might, someday, find a reason to smile.


End file.
